A necropolis of Chor-Bakr.
A necropolis of
Chor-Bakr. The emergence of the necropolis in the village of Sumitan dates
back to the era of the Samanids’ ruling. The village of Sumitan was given
as a property domain to Juybari sheikhs during the reign of the first Uzbek
Shaybanid dynasty. The first and the main burial, from which the formation of
the necropolis has begun, is the grave of the supposedly descendant of the
Prophet Muhammad – Abu Bakr Saad, who is considered to be the founder of the Juybar
dynasty, which once had a great influence on the political and spiritual life
of Bukhara.
The early history
of the necropolis until recently remained unknown. By now, historical and
archaeological research have established that the area of the ancient part of
the necropolis, formed by the X – XIII centuries, amounted to no more than
1/10 of the current territory.
In the XIV –
beginning of the XVI centuries, the necropolis began to increase in
size. On its eastern outskirts and along the street, single and family
tombs of burnt bricks were built. It is not known who was buried in those
tombs as all written sources remain silent on that subject, and numerous marble
tombstones turned to dust, or the inscriptions on them were changed at a later
time.
It is interesting
that mausoleums were not erected on the Chor-Bakr necropolis – the monumental
burial structures called khazira,
whose architectural appearance developed by the beginning of the XVI-th
century, were spread there. It is the construction of the burial structures
that distinguishes the Chor-Bakr necropolis from other religious burials in
Uzbekistan, for example, from the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis. The generalized
characteristic of the khazira as a
type of a monumental burial structure can be formulated as follows: it is
devoid of overlap, a country-oriented building with a burial part, surrounded
by walls and an entrance, and decorated with a darvaz. The Juybar Seyids’ khazira
is located in the north-western part of the complex, while the others are
located in the eastern part of the complex and stretch in a long line from
north to south.
All architectural
monuments of Chor-Bakr from the XVI-th century are united by a number of
specific features. They have a single format of burnt bricks; clay is used
as their binder, and the construction of foundations used wooden bars. In
the masonry of arches, domes, and vaults, ganch was used. The walls were faced
with polished bricks, and mosaics were used in the decoration.
At the turn of the
XVI – XVII centuries, Taj-ad-Din Juybari (the son of Khoja Saad) with the
construction of a mosque completed the creation of the main architectural
ensemble of Chor-Bakr.
In the XVII-th
century, the construction of four khaziras completed the formation of the
street in the necropolis.
At the beginning
of the XX-th century, on the open side of the central courtyard, a moderate
size minaret was erected, completely copying the Kalon/Kalyan minaret in
Bukhara.
For the
preparation of documentation for this site in the framework of the project nomination
dossier The Great Silk Road: Zarafshan –
Karakum Corridor has been collected the following:
• 12 179 photographs
(including detailed aerial photographs of facades and roofs of architectural
elements, perspective and artistic aerial photographs, panoramic photographs,
as well as photographs revealing visual access points in the context of the
urban environment at the level of the human eye);
• 3 video
of the flights above the area providing a complete picture of the monument’s
size and the urban context.
As a result, has
been received the following:
• detailed
orthophotomosaic and 3D model of the monument’s territory, where in details it
is possible to determine the architectural, infrastructural, household, and
other elements by means of a visual research;
• digital surface
model (DEM/DSM), which allows to fully evaluate the peculiarities of the urban
and natural landscape, as well as to get a detailed topographic map of the
territory;
• detailed 3D
models of the architectural objects, fully conveying the entire spectrum of
visual perception, both of the object as a whole and of its individual elements
(documented accuracy of the shape and geometry in real scale with
georeferencing, high-resolution texture that allows to visually assess the condition
of the smallest parts and details, etc.).
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